Monument record MDO47833 - Neolithic occupation, Fir Tree Field, Down Farm, Gussage St Michael

A Later Neolithic site in Firtree Field around 200 metres north of the Dorset Cursus, discovered during excavations focused on the Bronze Age enclosure MDO5643. Some Neolithic material had already been evident in the general surface scatter of material, and excavations revealed two clusters of Neolithic pits plus a single outlier, and a scatter of stakeholes that do not conform to the plan of the Bronze Age settlement. A northern group featured 7 pits, while 8 were present in the southern group, though this latter cluster may have extended beyond the limits of the excavated area. The majority of the pits contained sherds of Grooved Ware, though 3 also featured some Peterborough Ware. Other finds included a range of flint and stone artefacts, including axes, arrowheads, scrapers and knives; animal bones, boars' tusks, antler, and carbonised cereal. Several of the deposits had a formal, 'placed' appearance amd involved complex sequences of deposition and infilling. Radiocarbon dates confirm a broad early to mid-3rd millennium BC date.

The site at Down Farm was excavated 1976-9. A rich Grooved Ware occupation comprising 16 pits was discovered which was probably associated with the Dorset Cursus which is only 140m SE. This was overlain by an MBA three-sided rectilinear enclosure containing 5 circular huts and a long rectanguilar building. Abundant Deverel-Rimbury pottery. (1-2)

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1981, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1979, 135-137 (Serial). SDO79.

<2> 1982, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 48, 507-8 (Serial). SDO17156.

<3> Barrett, J, Bradley, R and Green, M, 1991, Landscape, Monuments and Society: the prehistory of Cranborne Chase, 75-84 (Monograph). SDO16633.

<4> Bowen, H C, 1991, The Archaeology of Bokerley Dyke: Inventory, 28 (Monograph). SDO14864.

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 890408 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Feb 29 2024 12:37PM